Life of a rain drop
Immersive experience on hidden water
scarcity in Singapore
Students:
Yaqi Liao, Heidi Välisalmi, Tautvydas Zykevičius
4 5
Singapore is considered to be one of the most water-stressed
countries in the world. Due to having no ground water or aqui-
fers and little space to store rain water, there’s a challenge to
have sucient water supply. The possibility of Malaysian water
imports ending in 2060, climate change, and increasingly
extreme weather patterns, all add to this challenge. Water scar-
city will hinder the growth of Singapore, if left unaddressed.
The main idea of the Life of a Drop - An immersive experience
on water scarcity -the project is to show the player how much
inuence water has over Singapore. The juxtaposition of water
daily usage with railway corridors in Singapore was trying to
visualize the hidden data and water stories happening around
us. The spatial narrative with interaction to point cloud environ-
ment in the immersive experience was gradually introduced,
and the interaction built up the understanding of how water
inuenced their life in the eld of landscape, architecture and
urban planning. After an immersive VR experience, the player
has an increased interest in the subject of water scarcity in
Singapore. The VR experience doesn’t explain or show the
exact numbers or data about the Singapore water crisis, but
instead, attracts the player’s attention to the hidden issue on a
more abstract level.
Water scarcity is a well-researched and demonstrated issue in
Singapore, however, this issue is hardly present in Singaporean
daily life. On the one hand, it could be the continuing ambitious
water strategies plan from the Singapore government to
strengthen the belief of the citizens. On the other hand, it raised
Project Description
our consciousness about the future water scarcity issue after
the deal with Malaysia’s water import.
The Railway corridor is a relatively open space in Singapore
which contains the history of the water reservoirs, bio¬di-
versity, as well as the people who lived there. After receiving
ownership of the railway corridor in 2011, there is an ongoing
discussion on the design of the railway corridor. The railway
corridor is the epitome of the whole of Singapore about how to
deal with the relationship between governing and democracy,
as well as urbanization and nature.
Figure 1. Renders of the camera following individ-
ual raindrops. The player will become a water drop to
experience the ‘Life of a rain drop’ falling from the sky
and interact with the environment.
Context to Rail
Corridor
6 7
Figure 2. The above map shows the
locations of every water facility and res-
ervoir in Singapore, as well as the exact
location of Railway corridor which splits
the country.
Figure 3. The exact location for a
detailed scan was chosen due to this place
having all dierent sectors next to each
other. The industrial sector has yet to be
developed. The Railway corridor linked
the domestic and potential industry areas
with its natural landscape. It indicated the
potential research on landscape, architec-
ture and urban planning on this project.
Despite existing ditches, sections of the Rail corridor are
prone to ooding due to soil conditions. Sedimented layers of
weathered rock and marine clay leave especially the central
and southern parts water-logged during heavy rainfall. The rail
corridor acts as a green corridor for the public to get closer to
nature, as well as a belt of native forest that conserves and pro-
tects Singapore’s native biodiversity.
Since 2018, the railway corridor has been planned to become
the ’green artery’ of the city. The sustainable strategy in
Singapore is more than just becoming greener. There were lots
of existing water construction in the railway corridor which is
hard to recognize on the map or even while you were walking
there. The location of the experience was carefully selected
to directly interact with data and complex phenomena in the
immersive journey.
The player would be a water drop falling from the sky and land-
ing on the railway corridor. The project was trying to explore the
water scarcity issues with three dierent scenarios:
Vegetation, Domestic Areas and Industrial Areas
The interaction with the point cloud environment with players’
hands potentially suggested how the waterdrop could aect
the environment. Statiscally, over 30 per cent of rainfall water
is used for Singaporian needs alone. 60 per cent of the land in
Singapore has been used for collecting water. It is an impactful
number showing how water has a dramatic inuence on the
surroundings.
Context to Rail
Corridor
8 9
Figure 4. This is how AI imagined Singapore’s
railway corridor. It becomes the main artery of water
collection and distribution in the nation. Railway corri-
dor’s river - SingaporeanVenice!
Is water scarcity really an issue in
Singapore?
What do you think
about water scarcity
issue in Singapore?
Based on our research, Singapore has set an ambitious plan
to deal with the water scarcity issues. During the Singapore
trip, it was hard to realize the existence of a water shortage.
Besides the site investigation of current water infrastructure
using a laser scanner, interviews are part of our research. We
surprisingly discovered the strong belief in the government’s
strategies from citizens, but at the same time, worried about
the over-optimistic future severity of compromises to our water
supply in Singapore.
One of the biggest portions of Singapore portal water is
nearly 50 per cent of water imported from Malaysia. However,
Malaysian imports will end in 2060; what will happen then?
This part of our interview question. ( More see Appendix I )
‘Malaysia would benet more from extending the contract
as Singapore has already been really generous with its
terms. However, if the imports do terminate before the
government is able to arrange for alternative sources, I do
expect a period of scarcity. I would like to have strong faith
in the government as ensuring water security would be a
top priority not just concerning the existing population’s
survival as well as Singapore’s future since there has been
great reliance on our global image of stability.’
The interview was the inspiration for our immersive VR experi-
ence. The juxtaposition of how daily water usage and the rail-
way corridor tried to push further the reection on water usage
in relation to potential water scarcity. The combination and
interaction would reect the idea of how every drop matters.
10 11
Figure 5. Darkness with the wind blowing and thunder striking.
Figure 6. Trees, buildings, rain sounds and chaotic sounds. Where am I?
Figure 7. Hit the ground. Who am I?
Figure 8. Everything is blue. What is this place?
Life of a raindrop: an immersive
journey in the railway corridor
From 1965 till today, Singapore has had a long history
of facing the water-scarcity problem. They have four
strategies: Water from Local Catchment, Imported
Water from Malaysia, NEWater and Desalinated
Water. However, it was hard to recognize how di-
cult to get water while living in Singapore. This is a
journey, a story, a experience to explore the hidden
water story in Singapore railway corridor.
It is dark. It is cloudy. You are on the edge of darkness.
As a rain drop, you jump into the immersive point
cloud railway corridor. Falling through the cloud, the
site gradually constructed. The rapid increase of the
points indicated the increasing water consumption
in this area. Points are formed according to water
consumption throughout the history of Singapore. Figure 9. Sketch drawings of the scene setting and interac-
tion. On the right is the transition from Scene 0 -> Scene 1
12 13
Figure 10. The transition from Scene1 -> Scene 2
Figure 11. Landscape: Touch, light up, stay longer.
Figure 12. Landscape: Trigger new trees growth.
Interaction with landscape, buildings and
future city planning.
The Player interacted with dierent sectors including
vegetation, buildings and unknown industry areas. The
points gradually turned green indicating the start of
vegetation sectors. Everything besides the landscape
remains the original blue. The player could interact with
points and the environment just by touching them.
What will happen? How will the player as a water drop
inuence the environment? What happened if you stay
longer?
There were teleporting points adapt the player to expe-
rience dierent stories relating to the sectors. Trees,
colours, new buildings, new industries, sounds and
even people are under discovery. Touching, triggering
invisible teleporting points, and even staying longer are
all the motions the player could try to see the hidden
water stories in the railway corridor. Water could be
anywhere. Water can change the surrounding. Water
can increase the population. It all will be decided where
the player goes. During the interaction process, players
would understand where the water could go and under-
stand how water could inuence their future life.
Figure 13. Domestic: The change of colour indicates the change in popula-
tion. The more water is imported into domestic areas, the more residents move
into the areas.
14 15
Figure 14. Spectacular ending anima-
tion on water distribution in Singapore.
Figure 15. Three sectors on water
consumption.
Rainfall is plentiful in Singapore and it rains an average
of 167 days of the year. It goes to the soil of the ground
and provides energy for the landscape. It pumped to
the residential areas to prosperous the population.
Furthermore, it closely relates to the growth of the
industry.
At the end of the game, the player has explored the
hidden water stories in all sectors. The player gets a
sense of how water goes in their daily life. In the point
cloud scene, everything around the player starts
moving in all directions when nally all points gather into
three dierent size perfect cubes. These three repre-
sent each sector’s water consumption.
What is next?
The immersive experience of ‘Life of the raindrop’ is
trying to juxtapose the hidden users’ water usage with
the Singapore railway corridor. It is hard to realize the
water scarcity in Singapore because of the current
Malaysian water import. The experience visualizes the
narrative of a water drop to emphasize the slogan of
Singapore water planning as ‘ Make Every Drop Count. ‘
Delving into water usage, the immersive experience
plays with perception on the relationship between
water and landscape, architecture and urban planning.
We hope the player could experience the huge potential
for increasing water usage eciency in the future.
Figure 16. The transition from Scene3 -> Scene 4
After All...
16 17
Interaction 1
Game
Game
Game
Game
Player
Player
Player
Player
Touch the points
Coloured scenes
Staying in the scence after sometime
Water pouring
The more points you touch more objects spawn in
Only the related objects will be coloured to
Spawns more points: Water (player) stayed in a
More points and sounds appear in the sector
the environment.
dierent colours, the rest would remain blue.
certain eld will increase certain growth.
water was poured in.
Uses VR hands to touch points
Accidentally walks in and triggers an event.
Moves in certain sectors.
Activates ability/sounds of water pouring.
Interactions and
Eects
An Immerive
Juxtaposition
The interactions in the immersive experience are trying to juxta-
pose the daily water usage in Singapore in the railway corridor.
The experience was constructed with four scenes to explore
three sectors: landscape, domestic and industry. This session
explained how to interact, and what kind of eect will trigger.
Interaction 2
Interaction 3 Interaction 4
Eect 1
Eect 3
Eect 2
Eect 4
Game
Game
Game
Game
Game
Game
Player
Player
Player
Player
Player
Player
Teleportation/moving between sectors
Spawning objects/points
Animations
Reach the end
Despawning objects/points
Special tiger trigger event
Teleport player between scenes or positions in
Spawns trees, buildings, industrial facilities,
Falling, end, walking in/out invisible cube,
Starts end animation of three cubes of dierent
Despawns trees, buildings, industrial facilities,
Spawns traditional Singapore’s animal tiger. And
super loud tiger sounds.
pointcloud
animals, sounds, people, Lights etc.
teleportation, prologue, epilogue.
sector’s consumption amounts.
Animals, sounds, people, Lights etc.
Uses controllers to teleport
Triggers with Interactions 1,2,4 .
Triggers events.
Accidentally walks to the end of the scene 1
If the player barely moves or does anything.
Invest all water in the vegetation sector.
Interaction 5 Interaction 6
18 19
Based on the data and the current situation, we made
some predictions on what will happen if we continue
to preserve and collect more water in Singapore. We
were inspired by Liam Young’s project ‘Planet City’, to
describe a speculative narrative of what could happen if
we were to radically reverse every drop of water. Water
scarcity is no longer a technological problem, but rather
an ideological one, rooted in culture and politics. It is
actually to some extend, the actual situation.
What if Singapore became a huge
reservoir?
In the year 2250, Singapore gave up on water collec-
tion for themselves. The earth was too polluted. All rich
Singaporeans left for their home country and ew into
space. Instead, the ongoing water planning resulted in
a huge reservoir country which uses 101% of the land
just to collect water. It’s a huge body of completely pure
drinkable rainwater. The prosperous city of Singapore is
now the modern Atlantis of the 22nd century which all
architecture was preserved. The rail corridor was left as
a tourist attraction of the old prosperous world.
However, other countries in the world continued pollut-
ing for these years. Singapore was the only place where
stored drinkable water was. The country’s reservoir
made Singaporean even richer. They became the only
people who look the same as in 2022.
Figure 17. The ultimate epilogue of the story
2250 Reservoir Of
Singapore
End of experience Question for the audience:
Without water, nothing would have happened
in Singapore. What thoughts do you have after
this immersive experience? Did your view of
water change? Do you want to learn more about
water scarcity in Singapore? Maybe also in other
countries?
What do you think would happen if we had a water
crisis in the whole world? What if the most valuable
material would be water and not oil as it is now?
20 21
Prole
Singaporean native student, 21 years old;
How do you feel about water scarcity in Singapore; do you
think it’s a big issue?
It is a national issue that should be of concern but the coun-
try has been doing enough to reassure the people. There
only seems to be panic during the extreme periods of heat or
drought, so in a way, it feels like there should be more attention
on the issue as people might not be suciently aware of the
severity of compromises to our water supply.
Do you feel you have enough water to use in daily life?
(Showering, laundry, dishes, drinking etc.)
Denitely, the water supply gives reassurance and I believe
most people (at least of my age) would not be worried about the
water running during daily activities.
What do you think about Singapore water strategies?
-> NEWater, desalination of sea water, rainwater harvesting
(into reservoirs), Malaysian imports.
I nd the Singapore government’s eorts commendable in
their attempts to ensure water security. Limited by the scarcity
of land, they have more or less exploited all possible means.
Personally, I nd that more could be done on educating the
Appendix I
Interview with Singaporean
people and shaping more water-conscious habits. The people
around me are mostly aware of the water situation in Singapore
but do not practice sustainable habits in their daily life due to the
reassurance that the government will nd ways to provide for
their wasteful habits.
Malaysian imports will end in 2060; what do you think will
happen then?
Malaysia would benet more from extending the contract as
Singapore has already been really generous with its terms.
However, if the imports do terminate before the government is
able to arrange for alternative sources, I do expect a period of
scarcity. I would like to have strong faith in the government as
ensuring water security would be a top priority not just con-
cerning the existing population’s survival as well as Singapore’s
future since there has been great reliance on our global image
of stability.
Do you enjoy streams and rivers in Singapore? Is there
enough of them?
The water bodies in Singapore are pretty nice relaxation spots
considering the reservoirs and garden parks. Even the less
glamorous water drainage systems like the canals have been
recently developed to become spots for leisure and greenery.
I would denitely love to see more although such desires might
be less feasible given our geographical limitations. It would be
great if our existing landscapes could be preserved.
22 23
Appendix II
Schedule and Refelection
September ____________________
We did not understand what we were doing exactly. What?
Where I am? How we ended up here? Where was proper
design? Research: water is a huge problem no one talks about.
Malaysia imports end in the near future.
October _______________________
We created a game for saving Singapore from Malaysia’s
import cuts in the near future. Super dramatic trailer of Railway
WaterGod.
November ____________________
We made environment analysis, experienced daily life, talked to
locals, scanned railway corridor during Singapore Trip.
We haven’t even noticed water scarcity while visiting the
country.
With the rethinking of water issues in Singapore, the immersive
experience substituted the water distribution game. The aim of
the game is to juxtapose the daily water usage in railway cor-
ridors to inuence the player to reect on how much inuence
and value water has in Singapore.
Figure 18. Midterm WaterGod Game decision
calculation and the discussion on rainfall data to
railway corridor
Figure 19. Midterm WaterGod Game water distri-
bution calculation.
24 25
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